Skip to main content

Women's Stories

Rank Title Author Added

1

by Louisa May Alcott

33,234 members

473 reviews

4

5 Members: aulsmith, roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963, margaretfield
Explanations: aulsmith: Family of women.

2

The Scarlet Letter

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

41,816 members

416 reviews

½ 3.4

5 Members: roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963, aladyinredpolish, ManWithAnAgenda

3

Pride and Prejudice

94,121 members

1,512 reviews

½ 4.4

5 Members: thorold, roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda,aulsmith
Explanations: aulsmith : Except for Elizabeth and Darcy's sister, I really dislike the other women in this book.

4

by Pearl S. Buck

15,319 members

290 reviews

4

5 Members: aulsmith, roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963, margaretfield

5

Sense and Sensibility

44,125 members

578 reviews

4.1

5 Members: aulsmith, roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda
Explanations: aulsmith: Family of women

6

by Virginia Woolf

23,286 members

376 reviews

3.8

4 Members: thorold, roby72, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

7

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

by Muriel Spark

5,879 members

189 reviews

½ 3.7

4 Members: thorold, aulsmith, ahef1963, margaretfield
Explanations: aulsmith: A woman teacher at a girl's school.

8

The Mill on the Floss

by George Eliot

9,761 members

131 reviews

3.8

4 Members: roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

9

The Time Traveler's Wife

by Audrey Niffenegger

42,074 members

1,313 reviews

4.1

4 Members: KimarieBee, roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963

10

by Toni Morrison

26,577 members

447 reviews

3.9

4 Members: roby72, ahef1963, camila16, ManWithAnAgenda

11

by Charlotte Brontë

68,015 members

1,017 reviews

4.2

4 Members: roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda,aulsmith
Explanations: aulsmith : Jane's okay, but then there's the madwoman in the attic ...

12

The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood

48,398 members

1,236 reviews

4.1

4 Members: roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

13

33,274 members

576 reviews

4.2

4 Members: aulsmith, thecoroner, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda
Explanations: aulsmith: A woman learns to make her own way.

14

The Color Purple

by Alice Walker

22,601 members

369 reviews

4.1

4 Members: roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

15

by Daphne Du Maurier

23,962 members

686 reviews

4.2

4 Members: roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

16

by Jamie Le Fay

4 members

5

2 Members: JamieLeFay, GabrielWarren

17

Lady Chatterley's Lover

by D. H. Lawrence

15,331 members

242 reviews

½ 3.5

4 Members: roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

18

The Stepford Wives

3,539 members

107 reviews

½ 3.7

4 Members: roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

19

44,149 members

570 reviews

4.1

3 Members: thecoroner, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

20

Rosemary's Baby

5,324 members

157 reviews

3.8

4 Members: roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

21

by Gustave Flaubert

29,833 members

428 reviews

½ 3.7

3 Members: roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963

22

Breakfast at Tiffany's

by Truman Capote

4,187 members

101 reviews

3.8

4 Members: roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

23

by Sylvia Plath

32,776 members

560 reviews

4

3 Members: roby72, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

24

Picnic at Hanging Rock

by Joan Lindsay

2,258 members

71 reviews

3.8

3 Members: KimarieBee, ahef1963, camila16

25

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

by Thomas Hardy

21,646 members

264 reviews

3.8

3 Members: roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963

26

The Blind Assassin

by Margaret Atwood

17,773 members

391 reviews

3.9

3 Members: roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963

27

These Is My Words

by Nancy E. Turner

2,025 members

92 reviews

½ 4.3

2 Members: KimarieBee, margaretfield

28

by Henrik Ibsen

6,191 members

112 reviews

½ 3.6

3 Members: roby72, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

29

To the Lighthouse

by Virginia Woolf

20,426 members

312 reviews

3.9

2 Members: roby72, ManWithAnAgenda

30

by Daniel Defoe

8,583 members

111 reviews

½ 3.5

3 Members: roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963

31

4,002 members

91 reviews

½ 3.4

3 Members: roby72, thecoroner, ManWithAnAgenda

32

The Clan of the Cave Bear

by Jean M. Auel

13,877 members

300 reviews

3.9

3 Members: KimarieBee, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

33

The Secret Life of Bees

by Sue Monk Kidd

29,384 members

611 reviews

3.9

3 Members: roby72, thecoroner, ahef1963

34

by Kathryn Stockett

34,308 members

1,538 reviews

½ 4.3

3 Members: KimarieBee, thecoroner, ahef1963,aulsmith
Explanations: aulsmith : There's a lot of unconscious stereotyping both of women and African-Americans in this book. I'd give it a miss.

35

by Simone de Beauvoir

2,938 members

22 reviews

4.1

2 Members: roby72, thecoroner

36

A Thousand Acres

6,642 members

143 reviews

½ 3.7

2 Members: ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

37

A Room with a View

by E. M. Forster

12,599 members

246 reviews

3.9

2 Members: thorold, ahef1963

38

10,247 members

208 reviews

½ 3.6

2 Members: ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

39

by Michael Cunningham

13,643 members

243 reviews

3.9

2 Members: ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

40

The Joy Luck Club

19,316 members

220 reviews

3.9

2 Members: ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

41

Never Let Me Go

by Kazuo Ishiguro

26,828 members

1,014 reviews

3.8

2 Members: ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

42

The Edible Woman

by Margaret Atwood

4,381 members

90 reviews

½ 3.6

2 Members: thorold, ahef1963

43

by Theodor Fontane

2,501 members

36 reviews

½ 3.6

2 Members: roby72, thecoroner

44

The House of Mirth

by Edith Wharton

10,752 members

212 reviews

4

2 Members: roby72, thecoroner

45

4,182 members

304 reviews

4

2 Members: KimarieBee, ahef1963

46

by Abbé Prévost

2,373 members

59 reviews

½ 3.4

2 Members: roby72, thecoroner

47

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

by Gertrude Stein

3,071 members

46 reviews

½ 3.6

2 Members: thorold, ahef1963

48

Year of Wonders

by Geraldine Brooks

9,444 members

433 reviews

4

Member: KimarieBee

49

Behind the Scenes at the Museum

by Kate Atkinson

5,215 members

145 reviews

3.9

Member: thorold

50

Jane and Prudence

1,285 members

63 reviews

3.9

Member: thorold

51

The Tin Ticket: The Heroic Journey of Australia's Convict Women

by Deborah J. Swiss

229 members

13 reviews

3.9

Member: KimarieBee

52

18 members

2 reviews

½ 4.6

Member: KimarieBee

53

by Kate Forsyth

1,121 members

20 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: KimarieBee

54

Air: Or, Have Not Have

927 members

33 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: aulsmith

55

by Patrick White

1,577 members

27 reviews

4

Member: thorold

56

The Daughters of Mars

by Thomas Keneally

755 members

38 reviews

4

Member: KimarieBee

57

Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women

by Geraldine Brooks

2,471 members

49 reviews

4

Member: KimarieBee

58

by Doris Lessing

1,153 members

14 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: thorold

59

The Golden Notebook

by Doris Lessing

5,999 members

99 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: thorold

60

The Ladies of Missalonghi

by Colleen McCullough

1,056 members

32 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: KimarieBee

61

Novel on Yellow Paper

by Stevie Smith

556 members

6 reviews

3.8

Member: thorold

62

Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter

by Adeline Yen Mah

2,995 members

57 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: KimarieBee

63

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

1,125 members

35 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: thorold
Explanations: thorold: More subversive than you might think

64

Excellent Women

3,111 members

136 reviews

4

Member: thorold

65

The Heart of Mid-Lothian

by Sir Walter Scott

1,227 members

18 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: thorold

66

Beauty in Thorns

by Kate Forsyth

45 members

3 reviews

½ 4.4

Member: KimarieBee

67

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

by Jeanette Winterson

6,970 members

160 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: thorold

68

The Thirteenth Tale

by Diane Setterfield

18,354 members

931 reviews

4

Member: ahef1963

69

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer

21,284 members

1,310 reviews

4.2

Member: ahef1963

70

by Ann Patchett

14,471 members

482 reviews

4

Member: ahef1963

71

Anna Karenina [Norton Critical Edition, 2nd ed.]

249 members

2 reviews

½ 4.4

Member: roby72

72

Dolores Claiborne

by Stephen King

10,032 members

112 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: ahef1963

73

by Margaret Laurence

1,289 members

22 reviews

4.1

Member: ahef1963

74

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story

by Christopher Moore

5,223 members

164 reviews

3.8

Member: ahef1963

75

A Thousand Splendid Suns

by Khaled Hosseini

33,788 members

938 reviews

½ 4.3

Member: ahef1963

76

Their Eyes Were Watching God

by Zora Neale Hurston

22,335 members

385 reviews

4

Member: ahef1963

77

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia

by Elizabeth Gilbert

23,952 members

888 reviews

½ 3.5

Member: ahef1963

78

The Robber Bride

by Margaret Atwood

7,957 members

140 reviews

3.8

Member: ahef1963

79

by Margaret Atwood

9,808 members

178 reviews

3.9

Member: ahef1963

80

by Anita Diamant

18,155 members

401 reviews

4

81

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

14,038 members

290 reviews

½ 3.6

82

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

12,033 members

462 reviews

4

83

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

by Rebecca Wells

11,469 members

120 reviews

½ 3.6

84

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

9,261 members

174 reviews

4.2

85

Vagina Monologues

by V

3,614 members

64 reviews

3.8

86

by Thornton Wilder

5,894 members

80 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: ahef1963,aulsmith
Explanations: aulsmith : An interesting choice, but I think the men are as interesting as the women

87

Memoirs of a Geisha

by Arthur Golden

39,189 members

598 reviews

4

Member: ahef1963,ManWithAnAgenda

88

The Mists of Avalon

by Marion Zimmer Bradley

17,864 members

311 reviews

4.1

Member: ahef1963,ManWithAnAgenda

About This List

Started: sturlington
September 2013
Type: Numbered and unnumbered

Related Lists

Favourite books by Female Authors

Books Bought & Received as Gifts in 2014

Best Domestic Fiction

Books I Own But Haven't Read

Story Within a Story

Best Book Club Selections

Tagged 20th Century

Women's reading list

BBC World Book Club

Current Discussions

None

Related Tags

19th century (8,845) 20th century (5,154) American literature (4,742) British (5,769) British literature (5,682) China (3,965) classic (21,525) classics (24,303) England (7,994) English literature (5,458) fantasy (4,809) feminism (4,612) fiction (111,901) historical fiction (14,724) literature (15,355) memoir (3,864) non-fiction (3,897) novel (18,014) own (5,649) read (14,398) romance (13,066) science fiction (5,594) to-read (49,468) unread (4,475) women (8,164)

Verdana Standard Verdana Small The Lorax System Standard System Large Georgia Large Text Atkinson